Orthodox lead surge as global Jewish population reaches pre-Holocaust levels

Some 70 years after the liberation of Nazi death camps in Eastern Europe, the worldwide Jewish population will soon meet and exceed, for the very first time, pre-Second-World-War levels, a report issued by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) has revealed.

There were approximately 16 millions Jews living worldwide in 1939, the year Germany invaded Poland. According to the report, the total worldwide Jewish diaspora will exceed 16 million in the coming years, with most of that increase occurring in Israel and the United States. …

In April a similar report was released by Dirshu, a worldwide organization working to replenish individual Judaic scholarship lost during the Holocaust. According to that report, Orthodox and other observant Jews are leading the population surge, indicating that the level of Judaic devotion is deepening among individual Jews. …

[According to] Dirshu founder Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter, the son of Eastern European Holocaust survivors: “What’s even more extraordinary is the unmistakable trend among Jews to deepen their individual faith by returning to their historic texts for daily guidance. By studying our ancient texts, Jews are rediscovering who they are, fortifying their gains as a people and ensuring a strong future for themselves and their families.”

A 2013 Pew Research Poll showed that 27% of American Jews younger than age 18 now live in Orthodox households, whereas only 11% of American Jews between the ages of 18 and 29 years old report living in Orthodox homes. The average overall birth rate among Jews in the US is 1.86 children per woman, but in Orthodox families those number multiply significantly, according to the National Jewish Population Survey, with estimates ranging from 3.3 children per woman in “modern Orthodox” families; 6.6 percent children per women in Haredi